A sharp norm inequality for entanglement-breaking channels

Abstract

For a channel $Φ$ on $M_d$ written in the generalised Bloch parameterisation $r \mapsto Ar+c$, we prove that entanglement breaking implies $\|A\|_*^2 + \frac{d(d-1)}{2}|c|^2 \le (d-1)^2$, where $\|\cdot\|_*$ denotes the nuclear norm. The bound is attained in every dimension by the completely dephasing channel, and at $d=2$ by an explicit family with $c\neq0$. The qubit case reads $\|A\|_*^2+|c|^2\le1$ and extends to full rank a rank-two condition of Ruskai. The proof sharpens Ruskai's bound $\|A\|_*\le1$ by retaining the POVM completeness relation $\sum_k f_k=0$, which her argument discards; this recentres $A$ from a second moment into a cross-covariance, and is the entire content of the improvement.